Spoon - Hot Thoughts

i remember the old music critic description of spoon circa kill the moonlight was that their songs were jenga towers where they tried to strip out as much as possible without them collapsing into nothing. they're not quite that minimalist anymore but i think some sort of architectural metaphor still works

Am I alone in thinking this is the worst Spoon album in a long time? That being said it's certainly not bad, but "WhisperI'lllistentohearit" sounds like a bad Cult song and half the album seems well below par in terms of hooks.

Hmm, I actually hear the Cult thing but that doesn't diminish my love for that song, it's one of my favorites. It reminds me of Dwight Twilley or something (once it kicks in)

Overall, not a hook-y album, this is also true. But hooks are not why I buy Spoon albums

hooks are why i buy spoon albums

but this one has just enough

I can't believe people aren't losing their shit over "Pink Up," which sounds like Tortoise and Mellow Gold-era Beck getting together to try to make Kid A

Wimmels perfectly describes why I'm not feeling this album.

Wimmels your Twilley comparison has me intrigued though I'll listen again with that in mind.

I'm hearing fuckloads of hooks in this, especially on those first four tracks. Jesus. They're like a velcro prom dress. They're just mostly rhythmic and riff-based rather then vocal.

Am I alone in thinking this is the worst Spoon album in a long time? That being said it's certainly not bad, but "WhisperI'lllistentohearit" sounds like a bad Cult song and half the album seems well below par in terms of hooks.

― DavidLeeRoth, Wednesday, March 22, 2017 9:36 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i couldn't get into it but i've only listened once. i think maybe it's too fridmann-y

I thought the last one was too Fridmann-y, but that this one pulls back from there. I wasn't keen on TWMS, and would still rank it below everything else since KTM.

GF, GA(x5), and Transference are miles better than the last two albums. The last album had a few better stand alone tunes, but didn't sound very cohesive which is not surprising knowing that they worked with two different producers. Hot Thoughts sounds more like an album, but the tunes just don't stand out to me. I will say the song "Hot Thoughts" is one of my favorite things they've ever done.

i find it hard to believe daniel's ability to write a hooky tune will ever wither, so the new one just seems to me like a deliberate effort to write a certain kind of album. i like at least a few tunes on 'soul' way better than anything on this one, yet i find i've already played the new one ~40 times. it has a very compelling arc to it.

this is good but the drum sounds are kinda driving me nuts fucking flaming lips ruined drums forever

I love all Spoon albums, including this one so far. BUT the run from Kill the Moonlight to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (give or take the albums bookending that run) are rarefied air. This album and the last one are good but feel less essential to me. I haven't felt a desire to go back to the last one in quite some time.

Starting to think of this band in comparison with Clinic. Pretty much same number of albums, same issues with building blocks, how to modify their sound, production, how to progress artistically, etc. I liked Free Reign II better than anything Spoon has done recently, which might be a good indication of where I'd like them to go.

that is frankly bizarre. spoon's success with those things over an extended period has become the defining feature of the band.

Is Transference a break-up album?

I think its the sound of the band breaking up more than a relationship Britt was having, but I could be wrong.

Not getting into this album, feel a bit turned off by the obviousness of the titles and choruses. Where are the beasts and dragons, the monsieur valentines, the sister jacks and japanese cigarette cases? Have they strayed too far from the mystery zone?

i forgot how well executed My Mathematical Mind is - they ride on that single chord for a full 3 minutes until when it finally resolves in the final bars it feels like total collapse

Pink Up is Sex & The Church from The Buddha Of Suburbia and I claim my £5.

I've nursed a theory for a while that Spoon alternate between a sort of extroverted and introverted mode from album to album

so Telephono, Girls Can Tell, Gimme Fiction, and Transference are introverted mode - somewhat darker tonally or nocturnal in vibe, more abstract and atmospheric, and (recently) more defined by groove-oriented compositions

and Series of Sneaks, Kill the Moonlight, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, They Want My Soul are extroverted mode - on the whole more kinetic, brighter, less moody, more immediate songwriting and production

I'm not saying there's like a night and day difference between the two but I think there is something there in terms of general impression. And I think Hot Thoughts continues the trend, though it is maybe more of a synthesis than its immediate predecessors which I thought made the difference especially stark.

they've been working on a plan

this sounds like their best album since Gimme Fiction so far.

I often make the mistake of thinking of Spoon as a meat'n'potatoes indie rock band whose songwriting manages to elevate them above roteness. But I put this on and started doing some work, and there are textures and sounds in here that made me think 'Oh what is this I'm listening to? Is it house music?' or whatever...

Their production, especially since Kill The Moonlight, is fabulous. Even just their meat'n'potatoes stuff. The textures they get out of drums and guitars shame most other indie bands.

"I Ain't The One" is "Editions Of You" re-imagined by Coldplay

here are textures and sounds in here that made me think 'Oh what is this I'm listening to? Is it house music?' or whatever...

― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Monday, March 27, 2017 10:16 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this exactly. Also why I really, really love "Pink Up."

debut at number 17.

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga debuted at number 10. Get to work folks! Even thought it's far from my favorite Spoon album there's not 17 better new albums than this one.

that's a fall off from previous peaks. Check out the last two.

first Spoon album released since billboard started counting streaming right?

Damn the last two were both top four! Is Matador dropping the ball? This album got great reviews!

This album is great.

Not surprised by the lower entry - this album is more groove, less pop. The last album had "Do You" which is pretty much the most catchy pop thing they've ever done. In another era that would have been a top ten single to rival the best of them.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5nhjeBTn-whwI_YmOMqPeOqfbxDwRRAFl4zhkLPUNbK_0L07ucMDH3UrxVw3mr9gKzwukMJLdjzBAiXpnJ2sKHMIUggpY0Tt191oU39WCtJoWTv0P4qT-9-4jCtGmN5FdpWPT03qFZ-OBiCCsMbs_iTs-mcpKtDTwMgxq9L9h7DBA_UqG9fPPf3KYGPzetJJH03mkExMdZUP9VdIKU6b7rFhXmlZoYBpcdIZK1b-cuFCsINTVn-oMjc9XKYwm5dPlrLMfceiaBDttXI-vHwvpH5gxKSmutvreRUn0CiiM_b2-O8ZfqoDwc936sedNw53A80MdQUZc-_-g_nz0yD7b0aXVSZpw4KoiPRgTYDNlIW2ZRvzoU-KRo85EsAk4agm4rHZ6wv1qA0lM5HFhcEJ6VCx4lrO3lZRvPv6b8atwIVix4pIOaBn-lyD1vC3qIWa87pPv4NS2uhWL6Ae0lcEpkEuDAzh7BLb4CmxyKMmKeEjLAXVaVUmE0-3WPHSKUxa8DaDbsxUkIEsskelBbwBWafdQeK34V_rt7smAVK-fuEA-eZRViRadDm6Km6hxZKD_GEKcoiB1HUnMVraDql20q4B2TW-1ppQ5mH4RwhTvtUPVSuoqDwAnkY6d_Lig_1HV2srn0ox-Jw3kYtp0anCvMydMP1DpZaSb9s=w1689-h950-no

excited, thou it's about 100 miles away and need to work the next morning.

so i might actually only see Spoon.

I'll never complain about having to go 30 miles to Bristol to see a band ever again

Pre-kids an 180-mile round trip to Bristol for gigs was common for us. Next week and the week after we're doing two over-nighters (London and Manchester) to see The National and Grizzly Bear.

Yeah same, trips to London and back the same night weren't uncommon pre-kids. Come to think of it I think the last time we went to London to see a band was Spoon in Camden.

2010? Or was it v early 2011? We were there!

I know you were, it was mentioned on another Spoon thread. It was 2010, our son was very young and we left him at the in-laws while we went to the gig.

Feels like another life.

I've played this Spoon album more than any since GF.

Yeah? I liked it quicker than any of the last few but don't feel like it's had the growing power that Transference or even They Want My Soul had. I probably need to revisit it though; I feel like I 'get' each Spoon album a lot more when the next one comes out, if that makes sense? ie. I liked Transference quite a bit from the off, but when TWMS came out I went back to it and was like 'oh wow this is amazing'.

i think i'm with Monthy with this one. They Want My Soul has turned into one of Spoon's classic albums. their run from Girl Can Tell to TWMS is probably unmatched in rock today. i do really like this one but doesn't have the same impact those albums do, it feels more like a singles album for them. don't get me wrong, it's still really good just not up to Spoon standards.

Transference is the vaporous one to my ears. I love TWMS.

Wasn't crazy about Transference at first but it grew on me. I've never felt drawn back to TWMS and the new one has not stuck. I like all Spoon albums but I'm sad to say they feel somewhat less essential lately.

Transference I liked a great deal but I overplayed it, burned myself out on it.

TWMS always seemed...incomplete to me, like it was missing a chromosome; abrupt, as though there was a more fulsome version of the LP 10 minutes longer that was sanded down past the quick.

Hot Thoughts I'm really loving, even as it's a mystery I'm still solving.

(I still need to really explore/absorb their earliest records.)